


Making Do

by thereforebucket



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 10:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2306414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereforebucket/pseuds/thereforebucket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Blakey, you look beautiful!"</p><p>     Yang reached her hands forward and skimmed down Blake’s arms, ending with holding her hands in her own. A deep,<br/>weighted look came over her face for a moment, before Yang hid it with a hair toss and a smirk. “You clean up pretty well.”</p><p>     Blake gave a small smile. “You too.”<br/>-----<br/>Blake saves her first dance for Yang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Do

"You came!"  
  
Watching Yang’s face light up as she walked through the door was the second-most painful thing Blake had witnessed all evening. The most painful thing was watching Yang’s face fall slightly when she saw whose arm Blake’s was entwined with. She hid it well, though, recovering enough to laugh and wave off Sun when he complimented her dress. Blake just studied her face, looking for signs of what her partner was actually feeling. She heard the strain in her laugh, saw how her eyes didn’t quite light up, how she fidgeted with her dress with one hand as she spoke.  
  
She also saw the disproportionate amount of glances Yang sent her way, how her eyes would flick over her face, her dress, her arm still in Sun’s when Sun wasn’t looking. There was a mixture of pain and something else, something sweeter, in those looks. They sent pangs through Blake's heart. She didn’t want to be on Sun’s arm, she wanted to be on Yang’s. She wanted to dance with her, to pull her close and erase the pain in her gaze. She wanted to rest her head against Yang’s shoulder and feel safe in her embrace. It was something Sun couldn’t give her: that feeling of safety. She pulled her arm free of his. It wasn’t his fault, Blake just didn’t trust him as deeply as she did Yang.  
  
Yang, no matter how much Blake put her through, would never give up on her. Yesterday's talk in the empty classroom had shown that much. Sun, she wasn't so sure about. Again, it wasn't his fault. Blake was a difficult person to know, one who pushed her friends away, didn't ask for help, one who desperately wanted relationships with people but who didn't know how to ask, didn't know _who_ to ask. So many people had turned false in Blake's life that it was hard to figure out who would hold true. The thing was, Yang understood that. She had had people leave too: a mother she never met, a mom who died, a father who shut down, and there were maybe even others. Blake wanted to assure Yang that she wouldn't be one of those people like her partner had done for her yesterday. She wanted to wrap her arms around Yang and tell her that, no matter how bad she, herself, was at communicating, no matter how many people had already checked out of her life, no matter how good their reasons for not coming to this stupid dance together were, she wasn’t leaving.  
  
"Blakey, you look beautiful!"  
  
Yang reached her hands forward and skimmed down Blake’s arms, ending with holding her hands in her own. A deep, weighted look came over her face for a moment, before Yang hid it with a hair toss and a smirk. “You clean up pretty well.”  
  
Blake gave a small smile. “You too.” The two of them stood there, looking at each other, until Yang realized she was still holding Blake's hands and dropped the left one, rubbing the back of her neck.  
  
"Uh, Blake?" she started. "About that dance… I know I said if you came out here tonight I’d save you one, and the offer still stands whenever you— _if_ ever you want to dance. I’ll be around when—IF—you feel like it. No pressure. If you just want to dance with Sun all night, that’s fine, I get—”  
  
"Yang," Blake cut her off, "would you be my first dance?" Watching the emotions that crossed Yang’s face (surprise, excitement, trying to mask the excitement, then pure joy) sent a burst of tenderness through Blake’s heart.  
  
Yang tried to hide her smile, muting it by pursing her lips, before choking out “Sure.” She swallowed. “Of course.” She rubbed the back of her neck again. "Right now? Or do you wanna sit out for a bit? Or..." she trailed off, looking at Blake, unsure.  
  
Blake shrugged. "Right now sounds good."  
  
Yang's face lit up again and she turned around and held out her arm. "My lady..." she said with mock graveness. Blake rolled her eyes, smiling, and took it and the two of them made their way towards the dance floor.  
  
"I’m going to go get punch," said Sun. "See you when the song’s over!"  
  
The two of them paid him little mind. Blake may have nodded. Yang didn't even acknowledge him. They picked their way around pairs of people dancing, stealing glances at each other all the while, until they reached the middle of the floor. The song was nearing the end, but they paid it no attention, instead turning to face each other and stepping forward into position.  
  
It was a slower song and the dancers around them were swaying in time, close together. Blake linked her fingers behind Yang's neck and Yang linked hers around Blake's back. "I'm really glad you came tonight," said Yang, quietly. "You were starting to scare me when you were working all the time and it's good to see you taking care of yourself again." She smiled and Blake blushed and looked over her shoulder.  
  
"Well," she said, "a wise person told me that I had to slow down, if not for me, than for the people I care about." She moved closer, releasing Yang's neck and moving her arms under her partner's. "Thank you, Yang."  
  
Yang pulled Blake closer, squeezing her tight for a moment. "No problem."  
  
Blake relaxed in Yang's grip, leaning into her and resting her chin against Yang's shoulder. She inhaled and smelled the shampoo from Yang's hair and the soap from her skin, heightened by Blake's Faunus senses. She breathed out a sigh of contentment. Over her shoulder, Yang mimicked her sigh and one hand reached up to play with a loose strand of hair. For the first time since she had revealed herself as a Faunus, Blake felt completely safe.  
  
They stayed like that, hugging and swaying, for the short remainder of the song. When the final notes played at the opening of the next song began, they let each other go. Blake looked around to find Sun still at the punch table, laughing at something one of his team members had said.  
  
She looked up at Yang, seeing if her partner was thinking the same thing she was. Yang looked over at Sun, still at the table, then over to the DJs, then finally back at Blake. "Y'know," she said slowly, "I'm not sure that was an entire dance..." She watched Blake's reaction, hoping that had been the right thing to say.  
  
"Exactly what I was thinking," said Blake, smirking.  
  
Yang returned the smirk with her own mischievous smile. "I'm sure Sun will understand."  
  
The two got into position for a waltz, Blake's right hand in Yang's left, with Yang's right on the small of Blake's back and Blake's left on Yang's shoulder.  
  
"Mind if I lead?" asked Yang.  
  
"Not at all."  
  
The two began to waltz, looking down at first to be sure they wouldn't step on the other's toes, then glancing up, catching each other's eyes and grinning. Yang had been right: coming to the dance was a great idea.  
  
"Wanna try a twirl?" Yang asked after they had gotten the hang of the steps.  
  
"You or me?" Blake replied.  
  
"You can go. I'm leading, after all." Yang smirked.  
  
Blake returned it. "How very gentlemanly of you, Ms. Xiao Long."  
  
Yang raised an eyebrow. "As you know, etiquette is my strong suit." Blake laughed at that, causing Yang to blush and look away, a pleased smile on her lips.  
  
"What?" asked Blake.  
  
"Nothing," Yang replied. "It's just good to hear you laugh again is all."  
  
They waited until a swell in the music, then Yang extended her arm and spun Blake around. It was poorly executed, but it didn't matter. They both laughed as they returned to position.  
  
"Ok, I'll spin you next," said Blake.

“Are you sure you’re tall enough?” Yang teased.

Blake gave her a look. Yang was only two inches taller than she was; they had been over this. However, she couldn’t keep her lips from quirking upward, so she looked away and tried to hide her smile. “I think I’m tall enough,” she said, looking back and rolling her eyes. “Do you think you could control yourself, though?” Yang frowned, puzzled. “Wouldn’t want you to burn the dance floor up _too_ much.”

Yang stared at her, mouth open, for a beat. Then her lips split into a grin and she laughed, a deep, stomach laugh. “Oh Blakey,” she said in between giggles, “that was terrible!” By this point, Blake was giggling again too. “Did Weiss teach you how to joke or something?”

Blake rolled her eyes, still giggling. “You’re just mad because she beat you to that joke.”

Yang looked away, slightly ashamed. “Maybe…” she said. Then she turned back to Blake. “But it was still a terrible joke.” Blake just shook her head.

They continued to waltz, more confident in their steps, until the music reached another swell and Blake extended her arm for Yang to spin. This one was, if possible, even worse than the first on, and their laughter was all the louder for it.

As the music began to wind down, the pair became more subdued. They looked into each other's eyes, smiles on their faces, not saying anything. Blake became aware of her hand in Yang's, how close they were together, how they were moving without thinking about it. She saw the fondness in Yang's eyes, the light blush on her cheeks, felt how gently Yang's grip on her was. Blake wondered why her partner hadn't just asked her here yesterday, instead of saying that she would save her a dance. Yang liked her, didn't she? Everything she had done so far this evening had proven that. So why would she stop short of actually asking her to the dance?  
  
And why had Blake gone with Sun? Sun had asked her, yes, but that was all the reason she had for going with him. She just hadn’t questioned it. She’d was going to go with Sun but dance with Yang first. Sun was a safe option, one that she could go with, then say that she just wanted to be friends, and he would most likely get over it fairly quickly. Sun was like a swing with a practice sword: if Blake hit someone it wasn’t fatal, if she hit herself she may have a bruise but nothing serious. Yang was different. Yang was like real, sharp steel in her hands, a sword that would leave much more than bruises in its wake, one Blake needed training for before she could even get close to picking up. Blake didn’t want to cause pain to the people she cared about, she didn’t want to hurt them, so she went with Sun. She wasn’t confident in her ability to give Yang what she wanted, wasn’t confident that she could return Yang’s feelings to an adequate degree. Yang required special thought and consideration, which took time that Blake didn’t have at the moment. She just wished that Yang could somehow understand all of that…  
  
“Hey, you ok?” Yang asked quietly. Her brow furrowed a little bit and Blake realized that the worry had shown on her face. She blinked, clearing her head and giving her a smile of reassurance.  
  
“Yeah, yeah. Just…thinking.”  
  
Yang frowned slightly. “About Torchwick?” There was something almost put-out about her words. Blake supposed that made sense, seeing as she had promised to let it rest for one night.  
  
Still, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Hmm? No. I’m going to try not to think about him for the entire night.”  
  
The warm smile that crept across Yang’s face made Blake’s cheeks color. It was good to see she could still smile after remembering yesterday’s talk, especially since Blake had caused it. “Good,” she said. Her eyes flicked away, unable to meet her own. "I’m proud of you.” A blush blossomed on Yang's cheeks as warmth blossomed in Blake's chest. It felt tingly, spreading outward from her heart and making her feel flushed. Blake wondered if Yang could feel how her pulse had sped up, if she could hear how her heart was hammering in her chest.

Trying her hardest to keep from blushing, Blake looked away too. “Well,” she said, “obsessing over him isn’t going to do us any good. You showed me that.” The area around them grew warmer as Yang blushed enough for the both of them, her semblance kicking in.

"Well, it's true," she said. "Finding out what Torchwick is up to and stopping him is important, but _you_ should be your top priority." It was interesting advice, coming from the selfless Yang, but Blake realized that even taking care of herself was selfless if it made it so that people didn't have to worry about her. Not that Yang would ever stop worrying about her... It felt nice, though. Yang had her back, she wasn't smothering her.  
  
"Yeah, I realize that now," Blake said. She looked over Yang's shoulder and saw Sun standing on the edge of the floor, watching them. "Sun's back from the punch table," she told Yang. Blake wondered if making herself her top priority meant ignoring Sun's expectant face and continuing to dance with her current partner. But no, she was here with Sun and she wouldn't stand him up like that. Besides, it would still be fun to dance with him, even if her affections lay elsewhere.  
  
"Yeah," said Yang looking behind her, "and the song's winding down too." The two were quiet for a moment, somber. "Well Blake," Yang said, breaking the mood, "thank you for letting me be your first dance." She smiled warmly, showing just how much it had meant to her.  
  
Blake smiled back. "Of course," she said, "you're my partner, aren't you?" She looked into Yang's eyes, trying to convey to her what she couldn't say.  
  
She thought Yang understood.  
  
As the music wound to a close, Yang spun Blake around one more time. The two bowed to each other, then Yang waved in Sun, who had moved closer during the last notes. He took Blake in his arms as Yang walked away to stand with the rest of her team. "Miss me?" he asked with a grin.  
  
Blake looked over his shoulder at Yang, catching her eye. She smiled.  
  
"I made do."

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by weissrabbit's second picture in the link below:
> 
> weissrabbit.tumblr.com/post/96695437501/will-i-ever-tire-of-the-bees-nah-son-last-pic


End file.
